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{{Short description|British naval attack on the United States during the War of 1812}}{{Use American English|date=March 2024}}{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2016}}

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United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland>British victory(see Aftermath section)United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|name=United Kingdom}}United States|1795}}United Kingdom}} George Cockburn {{flagiconRobert Ross (British Army officer)>Robert RossUnited StatesJames Madison {{flagicon>United StatesJohn Armstrong Jr.>John ArmstrongTITLE=BURNING OF WASHINGTON, D.C.; CHESAPEAKE CAMPAIGN ACCESS-DATE=AUGUST 24, 2010 ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20100521070702/HTTP://WWW.MYWAROF1812.COM/BATTLES/140825.HTM, live, | strength2 = 7,640WEBSITE=NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER LANGUAGE=EN ARCHIVE-DATE=JANUARY 3, 2021 URL-STATUS=LIVE, {{Failed verificationWEBSITE=NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER LANGUAGE=EN ARCHIVE-DATE=OCTOBER 11, 2018 URL-STATUS=LIVE, {{Failed verification|date=December 2021}}DATE=DECEMBER 8, 2016 URL=HTTPS://WWW.SMITHSONIANMAG.COM/HISTORY/SOLE-AMERICAN-KILLED-1814-BURNING-DC-WAS-RELATED-GEORGE-WASHINGTON-180961344/ SMITHSONIAN (MAGAZINE)>SMITHSONIAN PUBLISHER=SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ACCESS-DATE=MARCH 16, 2024, 1 frigate destroyed 1 frigate scuttled 1 sloop scuttled| map_type = Washington, D.C.| map_size = 290| map_caption = Location within the District of Columbia| map_label = Washington| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox War of 1812: Chesapeake campaign}}}}(File:Chesapeake Campaign Map.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|British and American movements during the Chesapeake Campaign in 1814)File:Admiralty House Bermuda at Mount Wyndham 1818.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Admiralty House in BermudaBermudaThe Burning of Washington, also known as the Capture of Washington, was a successful British amphibious attack conducted by Rear-Admiral George Cockburn during Admiral Sir John Warren's Chesapeake campaign. It was the only time since the American Revolutionary War that a foreign power had captured and occupied a United States capital. Following the defeat of American forces at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, a British army led by Major-General Robert Ross marched on Washington, D.C. That evening, British soldiers and sailors set fire to multiple public buildings; including the Presidential Mansion, United States Capitol, and Washington Navy Yard.WEB, The White House at War: The White House Burns: The War of 1812,weblink White House Historical Association, June 9, 2011, December 24, 2018,weblink live, The attack was in part a retaliation for prior American actions in British-held Upper Canada, in which U.S. forces had burned and looted York the previous year and had then burnt large portions of Port Dover.WEB, Greenpan, Jesse, August 22, 2014, The British Burn Washington, D.C., 200 Years Ago,weblink January 8, 2021, History (American TV network), History.com, January 8, 2021,weblink live, Less than four days after the attack began, a heavy thunderstorm, possibly a hurricane and a tornado, extinguished the fires and caused further destruction. The British occupation of Washington, D.C. lasted for roughly 26 hours.President James Madison, along with his administration and several military officials, evacuated and were able to find refuge for the night in Brookeville, a small town in Montgomery County, Maryland; President Madison spent the night in the house of Caleb Bentley, a Quaker who lived and worked in Brookeville. Bentley's house, known today as the Madison House, still exists.

Background

The United Kingdom was already at war with France when the United States declared war in 1812. The war against France took up most of Britain's attention and military resources. The initial British strategy against the United States focused on imposing a naval blockade at sea, and maintaining a defensive stance on land. The British Army couldn’t reinforce Canada; instead, the government relied on militia units and indigenous allies to support the British Army units already posted in Canada.{{sfn|Hitsman|Graves|1999|p=240}} With the defeat and exile of Napoleon in April 1814, Britain was able to use its now available troops and ships to prosecute its war with the United States. The Earl of Bathurst, serving as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, dispatched an army brigade and additional naval vessels to the imperial fortress of Bermuda, from where a blockade of the US coast and even the occupation of some coastal islands had been overseen throughout the war. It was decided to use these forces in raids along the Atlantic seaboard to draw American forces away from Canada.{{sfn|Hitsman|Graves|1999|p=240}}The commanders were under strict orders not to carry out operations far inland, or to attempt to hold territory.{{why|date=January 2022}} Early in 1814, Vice-Admiral Alexander Cochrane had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy's North America and West Indies Station, controlling naval forces based at the new Bermuda dockyard and the Halifax Naval Yard, which were used to blockade American ports throughout the war. He planned to carry the war into the United States, by attacks in Virginia and against New Orleans.{{sfn|Morriss|1997|p=98}} Rear-Admiral George Cockburn had commanded the squadron in Chesapeake Bay since the previous year. On June 25, he wrote to Cochrane stressing that the defenses there were weak, and he felt that several major cities were vulnerable to attack.{{sfn|Morriss|1997|p=100}} Cochrane suggested attacking Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. Rear Admiral Cockburn accurately predicted that "within a short period of time, with enough force, we could easily have at our mercy the capital".WEB,weblink Interview With War of 1812 Author Steve Vogel, June 13, 2013, History Net, January 17, 2021, January 22, 2021,weblink live, He recommended Washington, D.C. as the target, because of the comparative ease of attacking the national capital and "the greater political effect likely to result".{{sfn|Morriss|1997|p=101}} On July 18, Cochrane ordered Cockburn to "deter the enemy from a repetition of similar outrages ... You are hereby required and directed to destroy and lay waste such towns and districts as you may find assailable".{{sfn|Cruikshank|2006|p=414}} Cochrane further instructed, "You will spare merely the lives of the unarmed inhabitants of the United States".{{sfn|Cruikshank|2006|p=414}} Ross was less optimistic. He "never dreamt for one minute that an army of 3,500 men with 1,000 marines reinforcement, with no cavalry, hardly any artillery, could march 50 miles inland and capture an enemy capital", according to historian John McCavitt.WEB,weblink Trump blames Canada for torching White House. Meet the 'reluctant arsonist', June 18, 2018, CBC News, January 16, 2021, January 25, 2021,weblink live, Ross refused to accept Cockburn's recommendation to burn the entire city. He spared nearly all of the privately owned properties.MAGAZINE,weblink Why Americans Celebrate the Burning of Washington, Time (magazine), Time, January 16, 2021, Cockburn, who accompanied Ross into the capital, reportedly wanted to burn the entire city in retaliation for American depredations in Canada. But it was an army operation and Ross' call, and he would have none of it., June 16, 2021,weblink live, An added motive was retaliation for the "wanton destruction of private property along the north shores of Lake Erie" by American troops under Col. John Campbell in May, the most notable being the Raid on Port Dover.{{sfn|Cruikshank|2006|p=402}} On June 2, Sir George Prévost, Governor General of British North America wrote to Cochrane at Admiralty House, in Bailey's Bay, Bermuda, calling for a retaliation against the American destruction of private property in violation of the laws of war. Prévost argued that,in consequence of the late disgraceful conduct of the American troops in the wanton destruction of private property on the north shores of Lake Erie, in order that if the war with the United States continues you may, should you judge it advisable, assist in inflicting that measure of retaliation which shall deter the enemy from a repetition of similar outrages.{{sfn|Cruikshank|2006|p=402}}Many sources also suggest that the attack on Washington was motivated by revenge for the American looting of York in Upper Canada, the provincial capital, after the Battle of York in April 1813. Earlier, the British had filed general complaints about the "wanton destruction" along the Niagara region and Lake Erie.NEWS,weblink Five myths about the burning of Washington, June 28, 2013, The Washington Post, January 16, 2021, January 22, 2021,weblink live, Major General Ross commanded the 4,500-man army in Washington, composed of the 1st battalion, the 4th (King's Own) Regiment of Foot, the 21st (Royal North British Fusilier) Regiment of Foot, the 1st battalion, the 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot, the 85th Regiment of Foot and a battalion of Royal Marines. This force defeated an American army at the Battle of Bladensburg.BOOK, George, Christopher T., Terror on the Chesapeake: The War of 1812 on the Bay, Shippensburg, Pa., White Mane, 2001, 1-57249-276-7, {{Citation |last=Gleig |first=George Robert |author-link=George Robert Gleig |title=The Campaigns of the British Army at Washington and New Orleans, 1814–1815 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CH4TAQAAMAAJ&q=Gleig,+George+Robert+%281827%29,+The+Campaigns+of+the+British+Army+at+Washington+and+New+Orleans,+1814-1815 |year=1827 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |isbn=0-665-45385-X }}

Burning

(File:Burning of Washington 1814.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The Burning of Washington, August 1814)President James Madison, members of his government, and the military fled the city in the wake of the British victory at Bladensburg. They found refuge for the night in Brookeville, a small town in Montgomery County, Maryland, which is known today as the "United States' Capital for a Day." President Madison spent the night in the house of Caleb Bentley, a Quaker who lived and worked as a silversmith in Brookeville. Bentley's house, known today as the Madison House, still stands in Brookeville.WEB, Brookeville 1814,weblink Maryland State Archives, November 12, 2013, May 11, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170511110922weblink">weblink live, On August 24, 1814, the British, led by Ross and Cockburn, entered Washington with a force of 4,500 "battle hardened" men.WEB,weblink Robert Ross, NPS, January 17, 2021, January 15, 2021,weblink live, NEWS,weblink In 1814, British forces burned the U.S. Capitol, January 16, 2021, The Washington Post, Joel, Achenbach, 2021-01-06, subscription, January 17, 2021,weblink live, The plan to attack Washington had been formulated by Rear Admiral Cockburn, who predicted that "within a short period of time, with enough force, we could easily have at our mercy the capital".WEB,weblink Interview With War of 1812 Author Steve Vogel, June 13, 2013, History Net, January 17, 2021, January 22, 2021,weblink live, Ross commanded the troops and was less optimistic. While Cockburn recommended burning the entire city, Ross planned to damage only public buildings.MAGAZINE,weblink Why Americans Celebrate the Burning of Washington, Time, January 16, 2021, Cockburn, who accompanied Ross into the capital, reportedly wanted to burn the entire city in retaliation for American depredations in Canada. But it was an army operation and Ross' call, and he would have none of it., June 16, 2021,weblink live, Ross, who was described by historian John McCavitt as "an officer and a gentleman", initially planned for an orderly surrender of Washington. However, as he and his men entered the city under a flag of truce, American soldiers remaining in the city "treacherously" opened fire, wounding Ross' horse and killing two of his men. McCavitt argued that this led him to "reluctantly" order the burning of the White House and the Capitol building.NEWS, Tattrie, Jon, Trump blames Canada for torching White House. Meet the 'reluctant arsonist',weblink Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 8 June 2018,

U.S. Capitol

File:US Capitol 1814c.jpg|thumb|upright=1.85|An 1814 watercolor and ink depiction of the United States Capitol after the burning of Washington, D.C. in the War of 1812. Painting by George Munger.]]The United States Capitol was, according to some contemporary travelers, the only building in Washington "worthy to be noticed".{{sfn|Herrick|2005|p=92}} Thus, it was a prime target for the British, for both its aesthetic and its symbolic value. Upon arrival into the city via Maryland Avenue, the British targeted the Capitol, first the southern wing, containing the House of Representatives, then the northern wing, containing the Senate.BOOK, Muller, Charles G., The Darkest Day: The Washington-Baltimore Campaign During the War of 1812, 1963, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 139, Prior to setting it aflame, the British sacked the building, which at that time housed Congress, the Library of Congress, and the Supreme Court.Items looted by troops led by Rear-Admiral Cockburn included a ledger entitled "An account of the receipts and expenditures of the United States for the year 1810"; the admiral wrote on the inside leaf that it was "taken in President's room in the Capitol, at the destruction of that building by the British, on the capture of Washington, 24th August, 1814". He later gave it to his elder brother Sir James Cockburn, the Governor of Bermuda. The book was returned to the Library of Congress in 1940.WEB, United States Department of the Treasury, An account of the receipts and expenditures of the United States for the year 1810,weblink Library of Congress, April 12, 2018, April 13, 2018,weblink live, The British intended to burn the building to the ground. They set fire to the southern wing first. The flames grew so quickly that the British were prevented from collecting enough wood to burn the stone walls completely. However, the Library of Congress's contents in the northern wing contributed to the flames on that side.BOOK, Allen, William C., "Destruction and Restoration, 1814–1817" in History of the United States Capitol: A Chronicle of Design, Construction, and Politics, Senate document; 106-29, 2001, United States Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC, 98, 978-0160508301,weblink April 12, 2018, March 7, 2021,weblink live, Among the items destroyed was the 3,000-volume collection of the Library of Congress{{sfn|Herrick|2005|p=99}} and the intricate decorations of the neoclassical columns, pediments, and sculpturesBOOK, Muller, Charles G., The Darkest Day: The Washington-Baltimore Campaign During the War of 1812, 1963, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 140, designed by William Thornton in 1793 and Benjamin Latrobe in 1803.WEB, History of the U.S. Capitol Building,weblink Architect of the Capitol {{!, United States Capitol|language=en|access-date=April 12, 2018|archive-date=April 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422211733weblink|url-status=live}}The wooden ceilings and floors burned, and the glass skylights melted from the intense heat. The building was not a complete loss. The House rotunda, the east lobby, the staircases, and Latrobe's famous Corn-Cob Columns in the Senate entrance hall all survived. The Superintendent of the Public Buildings of the City of Washington, Thomas Munroe, concluded that the loss to the Capitol amounted to $787,163.28, with $457,388.36 for the North wing and main building, and $329,774.92 for the South wing.BOOK, "Report from the superintendent of the Public Buildings" in the Report of the Committee appointed to ... inquire into the cause ... of the invasion of the city of Washington by the British forces, October 29, 1814, United States Congress, Washington, DC, 362,weblink April 12, 2018, March 8, 2021,weblink live,

White House

File:The President's House by George Munger, 1814-1815 - Crop.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The White House ruins after the fire of August 24, 1814, depicted in a watercolor painting by George Munger, is now on display at the White HouseWhite HouseFile:Major-General Robert Ross.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Major General Robert Ross, the British commander who led the burning of Washington]]After burning the Capitol, the British turned northwest up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House. After US government officials and President Madison fled the city, First Lady Dolley Madison received a letter from her husband, urging her to be prepared to leave Washington at a moment's notice.BOOK, The Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814,weblink registration, Pitch, Anthony S., Naval Institute Press, 1998, Annapolis, Maryland, 49–50, 978-1557506924, Dolley organized the enslaved and other staff to save valuables from the British.Willets includes Dolley Madison's letter to her sister describing these events. {{harv|Willets|1908|p=219}} James Madison's personal enslaved attendant, the fifteen-year-old boy Paul Jennings, was an eyewitness. After later buying his freedom from the widow Dolley Madison, Jennings published his memoir in 1865, considered the first from the White House:{{Blockquote|It has often been stated in print, that when Mrs. Madison escaped from the White House, she cut out from the frame the large portrait of Washington (now in one of the parlors there), and carried it off. She had no time for doing it. It would have required a ladder to get it down. All she carried off was the silver in her reticule, as the British were thought to be but a few squares off, and were expected any moment.{{sfn|Jennings|1865|pp=14–15}}}}Jennings said the people who saved the painting and removed the objects actually were:{{Blockquote|John Susé (Jean Pierre Sioussat, the French door-keeper, and still living at the time of Jennings's memoir) and Magraw [McGraw], the President's gardener, took it down and sent it off on a wagon, with some large silver urns and such other valuables as could be hastily got hold of. When the British did arrive, they ate up the very dinner, and drank the wines, &c., that I had prepared for the President's party.{{sfn|Jennings|1865|pp=14–15}}Corrected spelling of names of staff comes from Willets {{harv|Willets|1908|p=221}}Sioussat was the first Master of Ceremonies of the White House {{harv|McCormick|1904|p=170}}.}}The sappers and miners of the Corps of Royal Engineers under Captain Blanshard, who were employed in burning the government buildings, entered the White House. Blanshard reported that it seemed that Madison was so sure that the attacking force would be made prisoners of war that a handsome feast had been prepared. Blanshard and his sappers enjoyed it.BOOK, Porter, Whitworth, History of the Corps of Royal Engineers Vol I, 1889, The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, {{rp|358}} The soldiers then burned the president's house, and fuel was added to the fires that night to ensure they would continue burning into the next day.

Other Washington buildings

File:Rear-Admiral George Cockburn (1772-1853), by John James Halls.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Portrait of Admiral Cockburn at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, with Washington, D.C. burning in the background, including the U.S. Capitol and Treasury Building on the right]](File:U.S. Treasury building (1804) (Harper's engraving).png|thumb|upright=1.1|The US Treasury Building (built 1804))(File:Blodget's Hotel, built 1793.tif|thumb|upright=1.1|The Blodget Hotel which housed the US Patent Office; spared during the burning of Washington in 1814. The Patent Office later burned in 1836.)(File:Washington Navy Yard lithograph 1862.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Washington Navy Yard in 1862)The day after the destruction of the White House, Rear Admiral Cockburn entered the building of the D.C. newspaper, the National Intelligencer, intending to burn it down. However, several women persuaded him not to because they were afraid the fire would spread to their neighboring houses. Cockburn wanted to destroy the newspaper because its reporters had written so negatively about him, branding him "The Ruffian". Instead, he ordered his troops to tear the building down brick by brick, and ordered all the "C" type destroyed "so that the rascals can have no further means of abusing my name".{{sfn|Fredriksen|2001|p=116}}The British sought out the United States Treasury in hopes of finding money or items of worth, but they found only old records.{{sfn|Herrick|2005|p=99}} They burned the United States Treasury and other public buildings. The United States Department of War building was also burned. However, the War and State Department files had been removed, so the books and records had been saved; the only records of the War Department lost were recommendations of appointments for the Army and letters received from seven years earlier.WEB,weblink Business methods in the War Department : Report of board appointed in compliance with request of Senate Select Committee to Investigate Methods of Business in Executive Departments : United States. War Dept. Board on Business Methods : Borrow, and Streaming, Internet Archive, 1889, The First U.S. Patent Office Building was saved by the efforts of William Thornton, the former Architect of the Capitol and then the Superintendent of Patents, who gained British cooperation to preserve it.WEB,weblink The Patent Fire of 1836, patentlaws.com, December 14, 2011, August 15, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110815112359weblink">weblink live, BOOK,weblink Brief History of the United States Patent Office from its foundation—1790 to 1886—with an outline of laws, growth, publications, office routine, etc., Washington, D.C., R. Beresford, Printer, 1886, December 16, 2011, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120415010547weblink">weblink April 15, 2012, mdy-all, It is written that a loaded cannon was aimed at the Patent Office to destroy it. Thornton "put himself before the gun, and in a frenzy of excitement exclaimed: 'Are you Englishmen or only Goths and Vandals? This is the Patent Office, a depository of the ingenuity of the American nation, in which the whole civilized world is interested. Would you destroy it? If so, fire away, and let the charge pass through my body.' The effect is said to have been magical upon the soldiers, and to have saved the Patent Office from destruction." "When the smoke cleared from the dreadful attack, the Patent Office was the only Government building ... left untouched" in Washington.WEB,weblink 'One Hot Commodity': Great Patent Fire of 1836 United States Patent Office, Kids pages, United States Patent and Trademark Office, December 16, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20111218114423weblink">weblink December 18, 2011, dead, The Americans had already burned much of the historic Washington Navy Yard, founded by Thomas Jefferson, to prevent capture of stores and ammunition,Crawford, p. 222, quoting letter from Cockburn to Cochrane dated August 27, 1814, "The Enemy himself, on our entering the Town set fire to ..." as well as the 44-gun frigate USS Columbia and the 22-gun USS Argus, both new vessels nearing completion.{{sfn|Roosevelt|1902|p=47}} The Navy Yard's Latrobe Gate, Quarters A, and Quarters B were the only buildings to escape destruction."It is one of the few structures to have escaped the fire in 1814 when the British invaded Washington." {{harv|Gerson|Branam|1973|p=5}}"When the British captured Washington on August 24, 1814, and Captain Tingey ordered the Navy Yard set fire to prevent the British using the Yard and its ships to their advantage, both Quarters A (Tingey's House) and Quarters B (Lieutenant Haraden's House) were untouched, but the people the neighborhood plundered them to such an extent that 'not a movable object from cellar to garret was left, and even the fixtures and locks off the doors were taken." {{harv|Taylor|1973|pp=3, 5}} Also spared were the Marine Barracks and Commandant's House, although several private properties were damaged or destroyed."Act of July 14, 1832, to pay estate of Edward Barry $568.35 for property destroyed in the burning of the Washington navy-hard by the British in 1814 ... Act of March 2, 1833, to pay the estate of George Hodge $824.18 for property destroyed in the burning of the Washington navy-yard by the British in 1814." {{harv|Reports ... |1894|p=174}} In the afternoon of August 25, General Ross sent two hundred men to secure a fort on Greenleaf's Point. The fort, later known as Fort McNair, had already been destroyed by the Americans, but 150 barrels of gunpowder remained. While the British were trying to dispose of them by dropping them into a well, the powder ignited. As many as thirty British soldiers were killed in the explosion, with several others injured.{{sfn|George|2000|p=111}}

"The Storm that Saved Washington"

Less than four days after the attack began, a sudden, very heavy thunderstorm—possibly a hurricane—put out the fires. It also spun off a tornado that passed through the center of the capital, setting down on Constitution AvenueAV MEDIA, 2005, The War of 1812, Scene 5 "An Act of Nature", Television production, English, History Channel, and lifting two cannons before dropping them several yards away and killing British troops and American civilians alike.{{sfn|NWS staff|2011}} Following the storm, the British troops returned to their ships, many of which were badly damaged. There is some debate regarding the effect of this storm on the occupation. While some assert that the storm forced the British to retreat, historians have argued that their intention was only to destroy the city's government buildings, rather than occupy it for an extended period.Cruikshank 2006, p. 414. It is also clear that Ross never intended to damage private buildings as had been recommended by Cockburn and Cochrane.Whatever the case, the British occupation of Washington lasted only about 26 hours. Despite this, the "Storm that saved Washington", as it became known, did the opposite according to some. The rains sizzled and cracked the already charred walls of the White House and ripped away at structures the British had no plans to destroy (such as the Patent Office). The storm may have exacerbated an already dire situation for Washington D.C. An encounter was noted between Sir George Cockburn and a female resident of Washington. "Dear God! Is this the weather to which you are accustomed in this infernal country?" enquired the Admiral. "This is a special interposition of Providence to drive our enemies from our city", the woman allegedly called out to Cockburn. "Not so, Madam", Cockburn retorted. "It is rather to aid your enemies in the destruction of your city", before riding off on horseback.Peter Snow "When Britain Burned the White House" 2012The Royal Navy reported that it lost one man killed and six wounded in the attack, of whom the fatality and three of the wounded were from the 6th West India Regiment of the Corps of Colonial Marines.{{London Gazette|issue=16939|pages=1942–1943|date=September 27, 1814}} The destruction of the Capitol, including the Senate House and the House of Representatives, the Arsenal, Dockyard, Treasury, War Office, President's mansion, bridge over the Potomac, a frigate and a sloop together with all materiel was estimated at £365,000{{rp|359}} or around $40,540,000 in 2021. A separate British force captured Alexandria, Virginia, on the south side of the Potomac River, while Ross's troops were leaving Washington. The mayor of Alexandria made a deal and the British refrained from burning the town.{{sfn|Landry|2009|p=255}} In 2013, an episode of the Weather Channel documentary series When Weather Changed History, entitled "The Thunderstorm That Saved D.C.", was devoted to these events.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

Aftermath

President James Madison and the military officers returned to Washington by September 1, on which date Madison issued a proclamation calling on citizens to defend the District of Columbia.WEB, James Madison, Proclamation – Calling All Citizens to Unite in Defense of the District of Columbia September 1, 1814,weblink The American Presidency Project, July 14, 2013, July 15, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180715152055weblink">weblink live, Congress did not return for three and a half weeks.BOOK, Allen, William C., Destruction and Restoration, 1814–1817, History of the United States Capitol: A Chronicle of Design, Construction, and Politics, Senate document; 106-29, 2001, United States Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC, 99, 978-0160508301,weblink April 12, 2018, March 7, 2021,weblink live, When they did so, they assembled in special session on September 19 in the Post and Patent Office buildingBOOK, Howe, David Walker, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848,weblink registration, 2007, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 67, 978-0-19-507894-7, at Blodgett's Hotel, one of the few buildings large enough to hold all membersBurton & Waggaman, p. 141 to be spared.BOOK, Skeen, C. Edward, The Fourteenth Congress Begins, 1816: America Rising, 2003, University Press of Kentucky, 35–52, j.ctt130jf4x.7, 978-0813122717, Congress met in this building until December 1815, when construction of the Old Brick Capitol was complete.BOOK, Clark, Allen C., Daniel Carroll of Duddington, 1938, Columbia Historical Society, Washington, DC., 36, Vol. 39, Most contemporary American observers, including newspapers representing anti-war Federalists, condemned the destruction of the public buildings as needless vandalism.{{sfn|Hitsman|Graves|1999|pp=243–244}} Many in the British public were shocked by the burning of the Capitol and other buildings at Washington. Such actions were denounced by most leaders of continental Europe, where capital cities had been repeatedly occupied in the course of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars but always spared destruction, at least on the part of the occupiers—the famous burning of Moscow that occurred less than two years prior had been an act carried out by the defenders. According to The Annual Register, the burning had "brought a heavy censure on the British character", with some members of Parliament, including the anti-establishment MP Samuel Whitbread,{{sfn|Hitsman|Graves|1999|pp=243–244}} joining in the criticism, declaring that the government was "making much of the taking of a few buildings in a non-strategic swamp, as though it had captured Paris."In contrast, the majority of British public opinion perceived the burnings to be justified following the damage that the U.S. military had inflicted during its incursions into Canada. The British public also pointed to the United States's role initiating the war, viewing this as an act of aggression.{{sfn|Hickey|1989|p=202}} Several commentators regarded the damages as just revenge for the American destruction of the Parliament buildings and other public buildings in York, the provincial capital of Upper Canada, early in 1813. Sir George Prévost wrote that "as a just retribution, the proud capital at Washington has experienced a similar fate".{{sfn|Elting|1995|p=220}} The Reverend John Strachan, who as Rector of York had witnessed the American acts there, wrote to Thomas Jefferson that the damage to Washington "was a small retaliation after redress had been refused for burnings and depredations, not only of public but private property, committed by them in Canada".{{sfn|Hitsman|Graves|1999|pp=244–245}} When they ultimately returned to Bermuda, the British forces took with them two pairs of portraits of King George III and his wife, Queen Charlotte, which had been discovered in one of the public buildings. One pair currently hangs in the House of Assembly of the Parliament of Bermuda, and the other in the Cabinet Building, both in the city of Hamilton.POTSI (archived): {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501081356weblink |date=May 1, 2012 }} HM Queen Elizabeth addresses the colonial Parliament in 1976"The odd objects looted from Washington DC in 1814" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112104007weblink |date=January 12, 2021 }}. BBC News. August 29, 2014.NEWS, 2015-11-19, Youth Throne Speech: 'We Must Work In Unity',weblink BERNEWS, Bermuda, 2021-09-23, October 24, 2021,weblink live,

Reconstruction

File:Old Capitol Prison - NARA - 524426.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The Old Brick Capitol serving as a prison during the Civil War ]]There was a movement in Congress to relocate the capital after the burning. Congressmen from the North pushed for relocation to Philadelphia or some other prominent northern city, while Southern congressmen claimed that moving the capital would degrade the American sense of dignity and strength (however, many Southern congressmen simply did not want to move the capital north of the Mason–Dixon line).BOOK, Green, Constance McLaughlin, Phoenix on the Potomac, 1812–1817, Washington: A History of the Capital, 1800–1950, 1962, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 64–65, j.ctt1mf6xv4.6, 9780691616759, On September 21, the House of Representatives voted to strike down a proposal to relocate the capital from Washington, D.C. by a margin of 83 to 54.Burton & Waggaman, pp.141–142On February 3, 1815, in an effort to guarantee that the federal government would always remain in the area, Washington property owners funded the building of the Old Brick Capitol,BOOK, Green, Constance McLaughlin, Phoenix on the Potomac, 1812–1817, Washington: A History of the Capital, 1800–1950, 1962, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 65, j.ctt1mf6xv4.6, 9780691616759, a larger meeting space where the Supreme Court now stands.BOOK, Clark, Allen C., Daniel Carroll of Duddington, 1938, Columbia Historical Society, Washington, DC., 35, Vol. 39, Construction of the Old Brick Capitol cost $25,000 and was funded primarily through the sale of stocks. The largest donor was Daniel Carroll of Duddington, a rich English property owner in the area.Burton & Waggaman, p. 142 Construction began on July 4, and concluded in December. Congress met in the Old Brick Capitol between December 1815 and December 1819, when the Capitol reopened.Burton & Waggaman, p.143The Capitol reconstruction took much longer than anticipated. The Old Brick Capitol took only five months to complete, but the Capitol took twelve years. A committee appointed by Congress to investigate the damage to the District concluded that it was cheaper to rebuild the already existing and damaged buildings than to build an entirely new one.BOOK, Allen, William C., Destruction and Restoration, 1814–1817, History of the United States Capitol: A Chronicle of Design, Construction, and Politics, Senate document; 106-29, 2001, United States Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC, 100, 9780160508301,weblink April 12, 2018, March 7, 2021,weblink live, On February 13, President Madison and Congress passed legislation to borrow $500,000 to repair the public buildings, including the Capitol, "on their present sites in the city of Washington".BOOK, Session III, Statue III, Ch. 41, February 13, 1815, United States Congress, Washington, DC, 205,weblink April 12, 2018, October 6, 2019,weblink live, Benjamin Latrobe, architect of the Capitol who took over for William Thornton in 1803, was rehired to repair the building on April 18.BOOK, Allen, William C., Destruction and Restoration, 1814–1817, History of the United States Capitol: A Chronicle of Design, Construction, and Politics, Senate document; 106-29, 2001, United States Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC, 103, 9780160508301,weblink April 12, 2018, March 7, 2021,weblink live, He immediately requested 60,000 feet (18,288 m) of boards, 500 tons of stone, 1,000 barrels of lime, and brick.With the $500,000 borrowed from Washington banks, Latrobe was able to rebuild the two wings and the central dome before being fired in 1817 over budgetary conflicts.BOOK, Skeen, C. Edward, The Fourteenth Congress Begins, 1816: America Rising, 2003, University Press of Kentucky, 37, j.ctt130jf4x.7, 9780813122717, Charles Bulfinch took over and completed the renovations by 1826. Bulfinch modified Latrobe's design by increasing the height of the Capitol dome to match the diameter of 86 ft (26.2 m). With the reconstruction of the public buildings in Washington, the value of land in the area increased dramatically, paving the way for the expansion of the city that developed in the years leading up to the American Civil War.BOOK, McLaughlin Green, Constance, Phoenix on the Potomac, 1812–1817, Washington: A History of the Capital, 1800–1950, 1962, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 73, j.ctt1mf6xv4.6, 9780691616759,

Legacy

In 2009, President Barack Obama held a ceremony at the White House to honor the Madison's slave Paul Jennings as a representative of staff action to save the Gilbert Stuart painting and other valuables. (The painting that was saved was a copy Stuart made of the painting, not the original,WEB,weblink British troops set fire to the White House, History, August 24, 2020, August 26, 2020,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20200826232503weblink">weblink live, although it is the same one on display in the East Room.) "A dozen descendants of Jennings came to Washington, to visit the White House. They looked at the painting their relative helped save."{{sfn|Gura|2009|loc=Descendants of a slave ... }} In an interview with National Public Radio, Jennings' great-great-grandson, Hugh Alexander, said, "We were able to take a family portrait in front of the painting, which was for me one of the high points." He confirmed that Jennings later purchased his freedom from the widowed Dolley Madison.{{harvnb|Siegel|Block|2009|loc=Descendant ... }}The 1814 capture of the capitol of the United States for a second time (after the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia in 1776) remains a sore point with some Americans. The burning of public buildings was retribution (lex talionis) for similar American attacks on Upper Canada.During heated free trade negotiations in 2018, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked American President Donald Trump how the United States could justify protective tariffs as a national security issue. Trump retorted, “Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?” NEWS, Acosta, Jim, Newton, Paula, 6 June 2018, Trump invokes War of 1812 in testy call with Trudeau over tariffs,weblink CNN, 7 March 2024,weblink 7 March 2024, Similarly, an American representative to NATO, frustrated with British rejection of his ideas is said to have exclaimed, "What can you expect from the people who burnt Washington?" A British officer replied, perhaps apocryphally, "Oh dear. I know we burnt Joan of Arc but I didn't know we'd done old George as well." Whitewash can cover scorch marks and bravado can obscure a rout, but the wound remains.Thus, the event has entered common understanding in the United States, if not accurate history{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}.

In literature

Lydia Sigourney reflects on this event in her poem {{ws|s:Moral Pieces, in Prose and Verse/The Conflagration at Washington|The Conflagration at Washington]]}}, written under her maiden name, Lydia Huntley, in her first collection of poetry of 1815. Bob Dylan references this event in his song Narrow Way. Corb Lund references this event in his song Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier

See also

• List of incidents of political violence in Washington, D.C.

Notes

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References

Citations

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Sources

• JOURNAL, Burton, Harold H., Waggaman, Thomas E., The Story of the Place: Where First and A Streets Formerly Met at What Is Now the Site of the Supreme Court Building, Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., 1952, 51/52, 138–147, Historical Society of Washington, Washington, DC., 40067303,
• BOOK, Crawford, Michael J., The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, Vol. 3, 2002, Naval Historical Center (United States Government Printing Office, GPO), Washington, 978-0-16-051224-7,
• BOOK, Cruikshank, Ernest, 2006, 1814, The Documentary History of the campaign upon the Niagara frontier. (Part 1-2),weblink University of Calgary, May 11, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110527184843weblink">weblink May 27, 2011, dead, mdy-all,
• BOOK, Elting, John R., 1995, Amateurs to Arms! A Military History of the War of 1812, New York, Da Capo Press, 0-306-80653-3, 220,weblink
• BOOK, Fredriksen, John C., 2001, America's Military Adversaries: From Colonial Times to the Present,weblink limited, ABC-CLIO, 116, 978-1-57607-603-3,
• BOOK, George, Christopher T., 2000, Terror on the Chesapeake: The War of 1812 on the Bay,weblink registration, White Mane Books, 111, 978-1-57249-276-9,
• WEB, Gerson, Leonard, Branam, Alfred, National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form,weblink National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, April 29, 2016, August 14, 1973, June 24, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160624221925weblink">weblink live,
• BOOK, Gleig, George Robert, George Robert Gleig, The Campaigns of the British Army at Washington and New Orleans, 1814–1815,weblink 1827, J. Murray, London, 0-665-45385-X,
• WEB, Gura, David, August 24, 2009, Descendants of a Slave See The Painting He Saved, The Two-Way, NPR,weblink August 24, 2010, August 8, 2015,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150808001349weblink">weblink live,
• BOOK, August 24, 1814: Washington in Flames, Herrick, Carole, Higher Education Publications, Inc., 2005, Falls Church, VA,
• BOOK, Hickey, Donald R., The War of 1812, A Forgotten Conflict, University of Illinois Press, Chicago and Urbana, Chicago, 1989, 0-252-01613-0,weblink
• BOOK, Hitsman, J. Mackay, Graves, Donald E., 1999, The Incredible War of 1812, Toronto, Robin Brass Studio, 1-896941-13-3,
• BOOK, Jennings, Paul, 1865,weblink A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison, Brooklyn, George C. Beadle,
• BOOK, Landry, Peter, 2009, Settlement, Revolution & War, Trafford Publishing, Bloomington, IL, 255, 978-1-4251-8791-0,
• JOURNAL, McCormick, John H., The First Master of Ceremonies of the White House, Records of the Columbia Historical Society, 1904, 7, 170–194,weblink April 30, 2016, Washington, D.C.,
• BOOK, Morriss, Roger, 1997, Cockburn and the British Navy in Transition: Admiral Sir George Cockburn, 1772–1853, University of Exeter Press,weblink 978-1-57003-253-0, November 17, 2015, January 26, 2021,weblink live,
• WEB, June 15, 2011,weblink NWS Sterling, VA – D.C. Tornado Events, National Weather Service Eastern Region Headquarters, August 24, 2010, September 1, 2010,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100901204026weblink">weblink live, {{SfnRef, NWS staff, 2011, }}
• NEWS, Kevin, Myatt, August 26, 2006, Did tornado wreak havoc on War of 1812?, The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, VA,weblink August 24, 2010, dead,weblink" title="archive.today/20120908193929weblink">weblink September 8, 2012, mdy-all,
• BOOK, Roosevelt, Theodore, 1902, The Naval War of 1812 or the History of the United States Navy during the Last War with Great Britain to Which Is Appended an Account of the Battle of New Orleans, Part II, New York and London, G. P. Putnam's Sons,weblink
• WEB, Siegel, Robert, Block, Melissa, August 24, 2009, Descendant Of White House Slave Shares Legacy, NPR,weblink August 24, 2010, June 28, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110628213444weblink">weblink live,
• WEB, Taylor, Nancy, National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form,weblink National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, April 30, 2016, August 14, 1973, April 4, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160404071651weblink">weblink live,
• BOOK, The Reports of Committees of the House of Representatives for the Second Session of the Fifty-Third Congress, 1894, Government Printing Office, Washington,weblink April 30, 2016, {{SfnRef, Reports ..., 1894, }}
• BOOK, Willets, Gilson, 1908, Inside History of the White House-the complete history of the domestic and official life in Washington of the nation's presidents and their families, The Christian Herald, New York,weblink

Further reading

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• Latimer, Jon. 1812: War with America, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. {{ISBN|0-674-02584-9}}
• McCavitt, John, and Christopher T. George. The Man Who Captured Washington: Major General Robert Ross and the War of 1812. (2016); see online review
• Martin, John. "The British Are Coming: Historian Anthony Pitch Describes Washington Ablaze," LC Information Bulletin, September 1998
• Pack, A. James. The Man Who Burned The White House, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1987. {{ISBN|0-87021-420-9}}
• Phelan, Mary Kay. The Burning of Washington: August 1814, Ty Crowell Co, 1975. {{ISBN|0-690-00486-9}}
• Pitch, Anthony S. "weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20111125071140weblink">The Burning of Washington", White House History, Fall 1998
• Pitch, Anthony S. The Burning of Washington, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000. {{ISBN|1-55750-425-3}}
• Snow, Peter When Britain Burned the White House, The 1814 Invasion of Washington, London: John Murray, 2013. {{ISBN|978-1-250-04828-8}}
• Whitehorne, Joseph A. The Battle for Baltimore: 1814 (1997)

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External links

{{Commons category}}

• {{YouTube|-21tV-IYufw|Burning of the Capitol During the War of 1812}}
• Burning of Washington at the Historical Marker Database

{{Battles of the War of 1812}}{{James Madison}}{{Authority control}}